Oh wow !
I can empathize. Many years back I had dogs. Sure they got a couple of fleas once in a while, but a good flea bath and spraying the yard with whatever the vet recommended at the time made for a quick end to them..... until.... some folks moved next door to us and had hunting dogs. For whatever reason, they had a hoard of fleas and they seemed to just live with it, so once their yard became infested and they didn't do anything about it, it was impossible to stop them from infesting ours too. No matter what we used or how many times, it only managed to slow them down on our side for a while and then we were covered again. No way to win after that.
One other time, some family let us stay at their place at the beach and after we got there, we shortly found that we were getting bit by fleas while inside. Turns out one of the owners had a dog and had been there a few weeks before. With no one to bite for a few weeks, all the fleas were happy to see us! We had to go buy spray, just to stay there. I was not happy, even a free stay cannot be appreciated if you become a feast for fleas.
I'm glad you got it somewhat under control.
I wonder how many people just live with them?!
I got some yard spray but it's dead of winter here now, so I'll do it in the spring. I do have one neighbor with a lot of cats that go outside. If I have a problem, she has a problem. Her cats come in here all the time. Idk if it was my animals or hers, or someone else's that started it. It happens. But I sure wouldn't let anyone else stay in my house if I knew it had fleas! Yuck. It's really awful to live with, even for a day. Those fleas must have been very hungry by the time you arrived.
I don't know how anyone could just live with it, but I'm sure I'd be surprised to know the truth of it.
I wondered if there were some folks that fleas would not be attractive too. You know "they" say that certain vitamin B types cause a person not to smell attractive to mosquitos. I wonder if there is anything fleas would find offensive that humans or pets could eat, that was natural like that. I don't know the answer to that.
There's a homeopathic remedy that supposedly makes the body unsuitable for fleas - Caladium. I used it, and it did seem to help. There's also a remedy for dogs - Psorinum. I haven't tried this yet, but I have the stuff. When I am certain I am 100% on top of this problem (there's still the yard to deal with), I will try it, along with essential oils on my dog. Problem is that the oils that repel fleas also antidote homeopathic remedies. We'll see!